Brunch, NFL style.

Yesterday marked the NFL's triumphant return to Sundays. And boy, were we ready. Kevin, Dave the Banker, and Michelle all came over to Chez CaitandDave for a kickoff brunch for the Redskins-Phins game. I'm pretty sure Michelle consumed half of the pitcher of Bloody Marys single-handedly, while D. and I took on some mimosas. Hell, we even found pickled green beans for the Bloody Marys.

I stayed up late on Saturday night braising some baby back ribs in the oven, and the end result was well worth the subsequent lack of sleep. Hint: the trick to really great ribs is in the rub you use and in what you braise the ribs in - I use beer, vinegar, onion, jalapeno, garlic, brown sugar, kosher salt and cayenne. Throw on some KC-style BBQ sauce when the ribs are on the grill, and you'll be a happy camper. I know we were...the meat just slid off the bone.

We made a huge vat of cheese grits and some eggs with boudin hash, as well. Boudin is a Cajun sausage made with dirty rice and pork - it's not terribly spicy, but it's hearty and when stripped from its casing makes an awesome hash.

Food and football are two of my favorite things, so I was really excited about checking out our first weekend of NFL Sunday Ticket whilst gorging on grits- and man, was it worth the cost!

I felt awful for the Bills and the Giants, given the series of injuries yesterday. But my prayers are especially with special teams player Kevin Everett of the Bills, who injured his spine yesterday. The poor kid may never walk again - and that's a horrifying thing for an athlete to consider.